1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for inspecting objects, such as pieces of luggage, for suspicious contents using electromagnetic radiation, for example, X-ray beams.
2. Description of the Background Art
To inspect check-in luggage at airports, it is known to use devices and systems with which to check the pieces of luggage with X-ray beams for the presence of prohibited objects. If explosives are also to be detected, slower devices for a detailed analytical inspection are deployed, which use the X-ray diffraction method or work as computer tomographs, for example. It is known to integrate these devices as a second step in an automatic inspection system, whereby pieces of luggage identified in the first step as not positively harmless are passed on to the devices.
Such an automatic inspection system is described in DE 44 06 956. In a first step, a conventional X-ray scanning device is used; a second step utilizes X-ray diffraction or a nuclear method, for example, a neutron activation analysis technique. From U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,764, a two-step device is known, wherein a computer tomograph is utilized as a second step. Both devices work automatically, whereby the location of objects of interest that were identified in the first step is passed on to the second step.
Due to their integration in an automatic inspection process, the devices for the detailed analytical inspection in the second step are very complex. Their complexity and their layout to accommodate the maximal dimensions of a piece of luggage require them to be of a very large design.